​Global healthcare RCM market ​poised for significant growth

Tools for proper oversight of the healthcare revenue cycle and better accounting across the broad spectrum of a medical organization’s financial matters have established themselves, in recent months, as utterly invaluable to healthcare administrative personnel.

April 16, 2018

In a sector such as healthcare, change sometimes occurs at breakneck speed, and countless outside factors have considerable impact on the day-to-day execution of essential tasks. As a result, it can be undeniably beneficial and productive to embrace aspects of the field that display sure signs of stability. Tools for proper oversight of the healthcare revenue cycle and better accounting across the broad spectrum of a medical organization's financial matters have established themselves, in recent months, as utterly invaluable to healthcare administrative personnel.

"Healthcare administrators depend on efficient tools that can provide proper oversight of their revenue cycles."

A new report by Future Market Insights provided considerable insight into the positive development of the healthcare RCM software market. Administrators of hospital systems, clinics and other medical practices have embraced these solutions in significant numbers, driving growth, and those that haven't would serve themselves greatly by doing so soon.

Rapid growth expected through 2022

FMI predicted in its report that the global market for healthcare revenue cycle management software will expand at a compounded annual growth rate of 6.9 percent between 2017 and 2022. This increase should equate to $43.3 billion in revenue. Also, software solutions dedicated to managing medical billing and payment tasks will grow at an impressive CAGR of their own – 8.2 percent during the same forecast period – but should bring in less revenue, of about $5.84 billion.

Support services are expected to drive a great deal of this growth. An expanding share of healthcare providers are finding their internal staff overwhelmed by the sheer volume of claims and transactions that must be processed. Particularly in situations where medical facilities still rely on legacy software or hardware – or wish to upgrade their tools but experience delays, budget shortfalls and other roadblocks – care providers will likely take all the help they can get from third parties.

All told, FMI projected that hospitals will account for the biggest share of healthcare RCM software adoption through the aforementioned forecast period. Laboratories constituted the second-biggest adopters for these solutions, followed by clinics.

Healthcare RCM software solutions will remain a vital tool for care providers through the foreseeable future.

Cloud deployment will figure prominently in healthcare RCM market

In 2017 alone, healthcare RCM solutions based in the cloud accounted for revenues of approximately $27 billion. Given the manner in which cloud technologies have permeated most prominent industries throughout the global economy, their increased presence in healthcare should be little surprise. Coherent Market Insight noted that organizational advantages, data evaluation and accessibility are some of the prominent factors driving use of the cloud for RCM, billing, claims processing and other tangential administrative processes care providers must regularly handle.

Factors to keep an eye on

The CMI report pointed out that the simple fact of increasing hospitalization totals around the world – especially in fast-growing nations like India and China – will go a long way toward driving uses of agile healthcare RCM solutions. Additionally, as people are living longer and the senior-citizen population rises in the U.S. and many other countries, the need for care among these individuals, as well as the many products and services tangential to such care, will only rise over the next few decades.

In light of trends like this, which should increase the workload of all staff within medical facilities – from nursing to administration – it's critical for personnel on the back end of such operations to utilize every tool at their disposal to increase efficiency. Healthcare RCM solutions that provide automated data entry, consolidated task management, a wide variety of payment options for patients and opportunities for better communication can serve this purpose with remarkable efficacy.